Whitnum Charged After Disturbance At Courthouse

Lawyer Is Seeking Democratic Nomination For Governor

April 29, 2014|By DAVID OWENS, dowens@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

STAMFORD — A Democrat from Greenwich who wants to run for governor on a judicial reform plank was arrested after allegedly creating a disturbance in the law library at the Stamford courthouse and trying to bite a judicial marshal, state police and judicial marshals say.

Lee Whitnum, identified in state police arrest paperwork as Lisa Baker-Whitnum, 53, of Greenwich, was charged Thursday with beach of peace and released without having to post bail. Her arraignment was scheduled for May 20, and the state trooper who arrested her ordered her to stay out of the law library until then.

In a statement on her campaign website, Whitnum disputed the allegations against her.

According to a report prepared by judicial marshals after Whitnum's arrest, Whitnum got into a dispute with Angela Harrison in the law library on April 22, two days before her arrest.

The issue was resolved and the women agreed not to speak to each other, but on April 24, both women were in the courthouse law library again and they began to argue, the report said.

Judicial marshals were summoned and, according to their report, heard Whitnum yelling at someone to leave her alone and Harrison asking Whitnum why she was looking at her personal papers. A judicial marshal then asked Whitnum why she was near Harrison.

Whitnum "started to yell that we [the marshals and law librarian Pamela Kaufman] were bothering her and we are treating her like a criminal," according to the report. Kaufman also told Whitnum that she was causing a distraction for others using the library.

"At this point, [Whitnum] was screaming that she wasn't being treated fairly and was disrupting the entire library and court service center," according to the marshals' report. Whitnum was making such a scene that everyone in the area, including a judge, was watching her, according to the report.

Harrison was not charged.

Kaufman then told Whitnum that her privilege to use the library would be suspended for three days, and when marshals told Whitnum to leave the library she took several steps then began to yell at Kaufman, the marshals said.

A marshal "attempted to place [Whitnum] in an escort hold in an attempt to get her to leave the library due to her loud behavior," the report reads. Whitnum "in turn attempted to bite [the marshal] on the left hand and arm."

Marshals then tried to take Whitnum into custody and said she "was thrashing about wildly throwing her arms in the air and refused to keep her hands behind her back," according to the report. Whitnum yelled at the marshals "leave me alone and let me go home."

She was held until a state trooper arrived to formally charge her with breach of peace.

In the statement on her campaign website, Whitnum wrote: "I never tried to bite anyone. The Judicial Marshals surrounded me for some unknown reason. They told me to leave. I said I would. I walked 25 feet never stopping; I was almost to the door, within five feet of the door when six marshals attacked me from behind and threw me up against the wall. I still have no idea what I did wrong."